The basketball rattled in and out of the hoop with 1:26 remaining as DePaul guard Jabari Currie’s lay-up turned into a defensive rebound for NIU guard Mike McKinney.

That single miss spelled the end of the game for the Blue Demons, as the NIU men’s basketball team held on for the 77-68 win.

The Huskies (2-1) won their second-straight game of the season and beat DePaul (1-2) for the second year in a row.

Junior center James Hughes started the Huskies offense by scoring the first six points. Hughes went on to lead the Huskies in scoring with 17 points as he made seven of 10 shots from the field and three of four free throw attempts.

That effort was good enough to earn Hughes the second annual Jay Goedert Memorial Award for the MVP of the DePaul versus NIU game.

“It’s just a game, I didn’t pay attention to all of that,” the Silvis native said. “It’s a good feeling though.”

The Huskies had three other players make it into double digits as Anthony Maestranzi produced 14 Todd Peterson contributed 12, and Mike McKinney provided 10 points.

While the Huskies offense proved to be a devastating force against the Demons, NIU coach Rob Judson attributed the win to the stellar defensive play of his team.

“Our team was able to be successful because of practice last week. We really went into work on defense,” the fifth year coach said. “I think our team was tired of practice and wanted to go out and play some defense.”

As a team NIU had 33 rebounds, 19 of which came in the second half. Peterson and Hughes led the Huskies with six rebounds each.

The win over DePaul marked the second-straight time the Huskies have beat the Blue Demons in the last two seasons.

“We were beaten tonight, we didn’t lose.” DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said. “They did a great job of executing. They deserved to win.”

The Blue Demons had four players reach double digits in scoring as guards Sammy Mejia and Jabori Currie put up 12 and 11 points respectively, and guard Draelon Burns and forward Wilson Chandler both provided DePaul with 10 points.

Although DePaul players were frustrated by the loss, they weren’t surprised by the fight and energy of the Huskies.

“I wasn’t surprised ‘cause they’re division one players,” Mejia said. “We don’t play against a bunch of people from the playground; these are college players.”